|
Posted on 07/09/2008 8:14:32 PM PDT by calcowgirl
ARLINGTON, Va., July 9 /Standard Newswire/ -- U.S. Senator John McCain will deliver the following remarks as prepared for delivery at a town hall meeting in Portsmouth, OH, today at 3:00 p.m. EDT:
Before I take your questions, I want to begin by talking about the issue in this campaign that Americans worry the most about -- the American economy.
All of us know what is happening to the economy. It is slowing. More than 400,000 people have lost their jobs since December, and the rate of new job creation has fallen sharply. Americans are worried about the security of their current job, and they're worried that they, their kids and their neighbors may not find good jobs and new opportunities in the future. To make matters worse, gas is over $4 a gallon and the price of oil has almost doubled in the last year. The cost of everything from energy to food is rising.
I have a plan to grow this economy, create more and better jobs, and get America moving again. I have a plan to reform government, achieve energy security, and ensure that healthcare is available and affordable for all. I believe the role of government is to unleash the creativity, ingenuity and hard work of the American people, and make it easier to create jobs.
At its core, the economy isn't the sum of an array of bewildering statistics. It's about where Americans work, how they live, how they pay their bills today and save for tomorrow. It's about small businesses opening their doors, hiring employees and growing. It's about giving workers the education and training to find a good job and prosper in it. It's about the aspirations of the American people to build a better life for their families; dreams that begin with a job.
There are many things the next president must do to get our economy running at full strength again, and to create the good jobs Americans need. But no economic challenge today is more urgent than strategic energy independence.
Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long term about the future of the country. By 2030, America's demand for energy will rise by nearly twenty percent. Our jobs, our way of life, and our security depend on the next President beginning to solve this challenge.
Two weeks ago, I announced the Lexington Project. This project -- named for a place where Americans asserted our independence once before -- will secure our energy future, and it will create hundreds of thousands of new jobs for Americans.
We have billions of barrels of oil available to us in the United States, and vast reserves of natural gas as well. So we will begin by producing more of both, to send a message to the market and result in lower prices for oil and gas.
We will develop more clean energy. Nuclear power is the most dependable source of zero-emission energy we have. We will build at least 45 nuclear plants that will create over 700,000 good jobs to construct and operate them.
The development of clean coal technology will create jobs in some of America's most economically disadvantaged areas. Clean coal demonstration projects alone will employ over 30,000 Americans. Ohioans get 86 percent of all their electricity from coal. Your energy future and this economy require us to find and deploy a clean coal technology.
My proposal to help automakers design and sell new generations of cars that don't depend on gasoline will re-invigorate that struggling industry. In the development and manufacture of hybrid, flex-fuel, and electric cars, jobs will grow at auto plants, parts manufacturers, and in the communities that support them.
My plan to develop wind and solar power and renewable technologies will drive innovation and create high tech jobs. Ohio alone has more than 60 companies in the wind turbine supply chain, and wind and solar energy can become a research mission for the state's universities, and a new focus for Ohio's manufacturing base.
My opponent's answer to the Lexington Project is no; no to more drilling; no to more nuclear power; no to research prizes that help solve the problem of affordable electric cars. For a guy whose "official seal" carried the motto, "Yes, we can," Senator Obama's agenda sure has a whole lot of "No, we can't."
To achieve full economic recovery, we need to think as well about the leading job creators in America. Small businesses have created 233,000 jobs so far this year while other sectors are losing jobs. Small businesses are the job engine of America, and I will make it easier for them to grow and create more jobs. My opponent wants to make it harder by imposing a healthcare mandate on small business that will add a crushing $12,000 to the cost of employing anyone with a family. That means new jobs will not be created, existing jobs will be cut, and small-business employees who keep their jobs will likely have their wages cut to pay for this mandate. My plan attacks the real problems of health care -- cost, availability and portability.
We also need to keep the IRS from taking more of your income and making life harder for small business. If you believe you should pay more taxes, I am the wrong candidate for you. Senator Obama is your man. The choice in this election is stark and simple. Senator Obama will raise your taxes. I won't, because jobs are the most important thing our economy creates. And when you raise taxes in a bad economy you eliminate jobs. I'm not going to let that happen.
If you are one of the 23 million small business owners in America who files as an individual rate payer, Senator Obama is willing to raise your tax rates. If you have an investment for your child's education or own a mutual fund or a stock in a retirement plan, your taxes could be higher. He will raise estate taxes to 45 percent. I propose to cut them to 15 percent. And for those of you with children, I will double the child deduction from $3,500 to $7,000 for every dependent, in every family in America.
My opponent also believes America would be better off by foregoing opportunities to sell in growing foreign markets. I disagree. Twenty-five percent of all jobs in this country are linked to world trade. In just five states -- Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Wisconsin and Colorado -- over five million jobs depend on open markets. To promote job creation, I will expand foreign markets for our goods and services.
Because the vast benefits of a global marketplace come at a cost for many, we have an obligation to help our workers receive the training they need when plants close and jobs are lost. Under my reforms, we will use our community colleges to help train workers for specific opportunities in their hometowns. And for older workers who have lost a job that won't come back, if they move rapidly to a new job we'll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and the new one.
To promote job creation, we must also get government's fiscal house in order. Government has grown by 60 percent in the last eight years, because this Congress and this Administration have failed to meet their responsibilities. When I'm president, I will order a stem to stern review of government, modernize how it does business and save billions of dollars. I will veto every single bill with wasteful spending. We aren't going to continue mortgaging this country's future for things Americans don't want or need.
My opponent has a very different record on this issue. He voted for an energy bill stuffed with give-aways to oil companies at a time of record profits. I voted against it. He supported the $300 billion pork-laden agricultural subsidy bill. I opposed it. As for earmark spending, I have never asked for a single earmark in my entire career. In his Senate career, Senator Obama has requested some $930 million for earmark projects. That comes to more than a million dollars in pork for every working day since he became a United States Senator. There is never a good time to put your parochial and political interests above those of the nation -- and least of right now, during an economic downturn.
For many, it is a very tough time. But my friends, we've been through worse, and beaten longer odds. Even in these difficult days, we must believe in ourselves. Nothing is inevitable in America. We've always been the captains of our fate. All you've ever asked of government is that it stand on your side, not in your way. I intend to do just that: to stand on your side; to help business and not government create jobs; to fight for your future and not the personal ambitions of politicians and bureaucrats.
We have much work to do if we are to end the self-interested partisanship that prevents us from fixing problems that need to be fixed and changing government to keep this country prosperous and at peace. I make you one promise I will always keep, no matter what.
In war and peace, I have been an imperfect servant of my country. But I have been her servant first, last and always. Whenever I faced an important choice between my country's interests or my own interests, party politics or any special interest, I chose my country. Nothing has ever mattered more to me than the honor of serving America, and nothing ever will. If you elect me President, I will always put our country first. I will put its greatness; its prosperity and peace; and the hopes and concerns of the people who make it great before any personal or partisan interest. I will keep that promise every hour of every day I am in office. And I will ask you to help me convince Congress, Republicans and Democrats, to keep that promise as well. There is nothing beyond our ability to achieve. We are Americans, and we don't hide from history. We make history. All we need is to believe in ourselves as we always have, and to cherish the beautiful country we are so blessed to call home.
Hmmm... and where is it written, exactly?
And for older workers who have lost a job that won't come back, if they move rapidly to a new job we'll help make up the difference in wages between their old job and the new one.
Oh, goody! How old does one have to be to be considered "older"
In war and peace, I have been an imperfect servant of my country. But I have been her servant first, last and always. Whenever I faced an important choice between my country’s interests or my own interests, party politics or any special interest, I chose my country. Nothing has ever mattered more to me than the honor of serving America, and nothing ever will. If you elect me President, I will always put our country first. I will put its greatness; its prosperity and peace; and the hopes and concerns of the people who make it great before any personal or partisan interest.
—
Well, I guess I could post the list of all the things that don’t support his contentions.. but then I’d be seen as mean-spirited or an Obama supporter.
So what else is new.
On to the convention.. a brokered one if the GoP has a sense of how they can seem to be so right yet fail to see how wrong they really are by hitching this nation to a maverick. jmo
It’s hell to have senators running for President.
|
You can disagree with McCain about what is in our Nation’s best interest but you can’t find an example where he ever placed any interest ahead of what he believes to be in our Nation’s best interest.
And liberals, too!
The Senate is an exclusive club.
They operate in a vacuum, far removed from reality, believing that they are above criticism and deserving of respect for their existence alone.
They are also perhaps the most flawed body in gubamint and also the hardest to understand when they choose to go their own way when logic dictates otherwise.
If he thinks amnesty for illegals, closing Gitmo, and wanting oil companies to "give back their profits" is in our Nation's "best interests", he's an idiot AND an a-hole.
I disagree as to your assertion about best interests put forth. You, as many others, are willing to overlook many things without offering why it is worth the risk to do so and are willing to reward him for bucking not only his opwn President and party and the many people that built it up the last 40 years.
Try reading the remarks. You’ll surprise yourself.
When a party’s President is signing spending bills that read like fiscal block parties without batting an eye then perhaps it’s sometimes appropriate to buck the President.
Thanks for posting. There’s some excellent lines in there for those willing to read it. Good night.
Our dangerous dependence on foreign oil has been thirty years in the making, and was caused by the failure of politicians in Washington to think long term about the future of the country.
mmmmmm McCain, you were one of those politicians in Washington for over 20 yrs.
Oh sure, nice speech. For what they pay speech writers these days, it ought to be.
Not sure it’s going to change mine or others opinion that we can and ought to do better tho as he panders to groups that don’t include conservatives who are not enamored of him or his schtick... and remains true to his faults of believing he knows better than the American people on issues of immigration and free speech.
And what if McCain believes in all of this nonsense? Since when does sincerity trump the result. The road to Hell is paved with good intentions. I seriously question his judgment.
I disagree with McCain on many things, McCain-Feingold being at the top of the list, but disagreeing with McCain is not the same thing as asserting that he is placing what he believe to be in our Nation’s best interest second to any other consideration.
Please point out the ones that you consider "excellent."
Yes... I did read the remarks. I'm interested in hearing your take.
You really want to hitch your wagon to him , don’t you? Be my guest but don’t begrudge others who reject the notion.
I seriously doubt he can or will do any better than President Bush. The machine will not allow him too... and his reaching across the aisle gambit will fall flat as the dems continue to block any reforms that truly reform much less attempt to rein in entitlements, earmarks, etc.
We who would walk and talk the conservative line have our reasons to doubt him as a candidate and will continue to do so until the convention... and what happens after that, well, it’s up to him and his handlers, not us then, eh?
Oh, and give the President his due, he at least took a shot at reforming Social Security and is stuck with earmarks by not just the dems but from his own party.
In case you haven’t noticed, he is not the most beloved person in DC, even by his own party, which ever one he is embracing that day anyway. but crossover voters loved him. ;-)
Hmmm... and where is it written, exactly?”
Perhaps here:
“Now, so there will be no misunderstanding, it's not my intention to do away with government. It is rather to make it work - work with us, not over us; to stand by our side, not ride on our back. Government can and must provide opportunity, not smother it; foster productivity, not stifle it.
If we look to the answer as to why for so many years we achieved so much, prospered as no other people on earth, it was because here in this land we unleashed the energy and individual genius of man to a greater extent than has ever been done before.”
I'm, frankly surprised you didn't recognize it and make the connection.
I sure hope you’re not a member of a group that will be prohibited from running ads 60 days or whatever before the election. just a little thing.. but little things add up.
..and God forbid another attack should occur and we had our hands tied and prevented from gathering the information we needed to prevent it thru whatever means necessary.
Shades of a Gorelick-like moment were that to occur.
.. and immigration,, ahhh, immigration,, reform,, no, the nation’s best interests aren’t in jeopardy, no , not at all.
right.
I meant “where is it written” that it is a responsibility of Government.
When you put his comments together with his proposed programs, you see McCain favoring an ever-increasing obtrusive government trying to subsidize and throw money at every problem instead of GETTING OUT OF THE WAY.
Individual genius and energy does not need Government to write laws to help them. They just need the FREEDOM to act, something that we are losing more and more of each day.
You’re playing word games.
On immigration alone, he is all wet.
Ah, well the US constitution actually. The role of government is provide freedom under law which is exactly what McCain is taking about and Obama doesn't believe.
“When you put his comments together with his proposed programs, you see McCain favoring an ever-increasing obtrusive government trying to subsidize and throw money at every problem instead of GETTING OUT OF THE WAY.”
I don't see that, he wants to spend less money, deregulate our oil industry, and cut taxes. sorry, but that IS government getting out of the way.
“Individual genius and energy does not need Government to write laws to help them. They just need the FREEDOM to act, something that we are losing more and more of each day.”
And President Obama would help that how exactly?
And by the way, who am I quoting in the earlier post?
And Obama is all dry.
Right on.
And after amnesty and cap and trade, his “plan” is meaningless.
Thanks for playing, Mr. McCain.
Can the real GOP candidate please come out now?
Please?
How about a few to get warmed up? McCain-Feingold, McCain-Kennedy, McCain-Lieberman, The Gang of 14, voting for Ginsberg...
His writers came up with some excellent words, I agree. Where I do not agree is that they apply to McCain.
And Obama is all dry.
hardly
Neither has a record to hoot their own horn over.
What part of the US Constitution would that be?
Read the rest of the thread and see if you can do better than that.
Have you read his programs? I think not. Just start with his global warming legislation. How about the FDA regulation of tobacco? How about CFR? The list is too long. "Cutting taxes" does nothing to limit the size of government, alone, and as of yet, there is no way that McCain can do that without having an even greater deficit. His programs for global warming and immigration add up to trillions, alone.
And President Obama would help that how exactly?
Let's stay on subject, shall we?
And by the way, who am I quoting in the earlier post?
The same person that said in the same speech: "In this present crisis, government is not the solution to our problem; government is the problem." McCain could have learned a few things from him if he wasn't so busy being mentored by Mo Udall and his leftist buddies.
“What part of the US Constitution would that be?”
“We the people of the United States, in order to form a more perfect union, establish justice, insure domestic tranquility, provide for the common defense, promote the general welfare, and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity, do ordain and establish this Constitution for the United States of America.”
I think it’s called the preamble.
If you really believe what you posted , then there is nothing more to say than what has been said. Thanks.
I believe McCain was mentored by Ronald Reagan and Barry Goldwater more than Moe Udall. By the way, global warming aside, McCain wants to drill for oil, Obama doesn’t and the COMPARISON between McCain and Obama IS the subject.
Funny, you never seem to criticize Obama.
That sure ain't it.
“...and secure the blessings of liberty to ourselves and our posterity”
Lets think, secure the blessings of liberty vs.provide freedom...hmmm.
That Nationaly elected representatives always place our Nation’s best interest first is a theme I have been working on since the Clinton impeachment. After we agree on that then I only need to show why a position is in our Nation’s best interest to get others to change their mind. Thanks for challenging me, I still need work on clearly explaining things.
You trying to make a point?
If so, keep trying as I fail to see what piling on a dem dweeb accomplishes when the GoP is not exactly swimming in calm waters here either.
I have not hid my opinion that neither party is well served by the candidates that have been manufactured in a flawed process to this point and would relish at least a brokered GoP convention.
America can do better. You used to expect as much of the GoP that they would at least try to uphold some principles and standards that served them well not so long ago, yet the last election raised concerns in many that we were not faring very well and it was not because of dem successes but rather GoP failures to do so.
Why would you now choose to compound the damage? The GoP has a convention where it has a choice that doesn’t involve crossover voters driving the process that included some of the oddest primary manipulations ever. I could care less what the dems choose to do.
McCain himself claims Udall was his mentor. He never claimed the same about Reagan or Goldwater.
By the way, global warming aside...
Why should we put global warming aside? The legislation that he and Lieberman have been pushing would cost trillions, subject the United States to international law and taxation, and bring on the greatest global wealth redistribution scheme in the history of our nation. Yet you want to just brush it aside?
... McCain wants to drill for oil, Obama doesn’t ...
McCain says he wants to allow states to decide about drilling in the places that he knows the Governor's won't support (California would be one). He does not support driling in the one state where the people and the Governor have been fighting the federal government to drill (Alaska--ANWR).
...and the COMPARISON between McCain and Obama IS the subject.
That isn't the subject of the thread. Care to comment some more about the article?
“and ensure that healthcare is available and affordable for all.”
How did that become a right? Heck, how did it even become a “Republican” ideal?
Thanks for challenging me, I still need work on clearly explaining things.
—
No problem, this is a good place to hone things... besides daggers, that is ;-)
Thanks
I love how quickly things like global warming and freedom of speech are pushed to the side. just irrelevant little issues, yaknow.
“That isn’t the subject of the thread.”
Really? because in his speech McCain mentions his opponent many times. It’s right there in black and white above our comments.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.
